For a mechanism that can operate on different materials, it may be desired that the mechanism have settings that are adjustable, i.e., tunable, to the characteristics of a particular material so that the mechanism performs better on that material. For example, it is often desired that the suction of a vacuum cleaner be tunable to the type of material being cleaned, e.g., weaker suction for drapes and stronger suction for carpets. And it is often desirable that the settings of a printer be tunable according to the type of medium being printed, e.g., heavier ink/toner for bond paper and lighter ink/toner for photo (glossy) paper.
Unfortunately, some of today's mechanisms have few or no settings that are tunable to materials on which the mechanisms operate. For example, a computer navigation device typically has no settings that are tunable to the type of surface (e.g., smooth, rough, fibrous) on which the navigation device is disposed and over which an operator navigates the navigation device.
And although other of today's mechanisms have settings that are tunable to materials on which the mechanisms operate, the tuning of these settings may be inconvenient or susceptible to operator error. For example, a printer may include a keypad and a display screen that allow an operator to identify the type of paper in the printer before running a print job. But this technique for tuning the printer settings may inconvenience the operator, and is susceptible to the operator identifying the incorrect type of paper. Alternatively, a printer may have one or more trays that can each hold a different type of paper, and may allow an operator to identify the type of paper in each tray. Although this technique may be more convenient than the former technique because the operator need not identify the type of paper before each print job, it is still susceptible to the operator erroneously loading a tray with an incorrect type of paper.